sportfanatik NEWS AND UPDATES

Sportsbook Review forum members have sounded off on regarding SBR's report against Sportsbook.com (ag) and their massive $221,786 backlog of payouts to frustrated players. While some forum contributors have been sympathetic to hear of the 153 players affected and their plight, others have pointed out that the writing should have been on the wall.

SportFanatik (SBR rating D-) player accepts $10 free-bets; book confiscates $820
Sportfanatik shares the same ownership and management as Sportsbook.com (SBR rating D-). The Sportsbook.com Group regularly refers to these $10 free-bet offers as a reason the bettor is not entitled to his/her balance, claiming the user violated the bonus rules or "the spirit of the promotion." The scam is always used on winning players who are often debited for more than they have received in bonuses over the life of the account. Even long-time Sportsbook.com account holders should use caution. The book has proven it will attempt to increase profit margins by stealing funds from players with positive balances who are no longer perceived to be profitbale. Other recent scams include voiding winnings on parlays and stealing five and six figure balances from winners who used different sportsbooks within the Sportsbook.com family.

Player: I have a problem with sportfanatik in that my account has been disabled ,there was a small balance of $20 and a pending bet of 800/1000 San Antonio for NBA champs ,reason being they are accusing me of playing both sides in the weekly free $10 bet . I have an acc with Hollywood as well but I didn’t realise they were connected , I thought it strange that they would offer the same proposition but I did take the free bets most weeks ,as I had no opinion of the propositions I mainly ticked the boxes at random and obviously at times they would differ . For at least a year I have only been taking the free bet with sportfanatik and one is only allowed 1 free bet per week so it is strange that this complaint should surface now . I fail to understand how they can adopt such stringent measures and if they are legally entitled to cancel my bet and confiscate my funds. Hoping that you can assist in this matter

Sportsbook.com Group steals $5,677 from player
The player held accounts at Sportsbook.com (SBR rating D-), Sportfanatik (SBR rating D-),and PlayersOnly (SBR rating D-). He was debited for the amounts won over the life of the account totaling $5,677. Sportsbook.com cites "bonus abuse" as the reason for stealing these funds. The Sportsbook.com operation often labels players who have won money and utilized promotions in more than one of the many sister betting sites as bonus abusers. Sportsbook.com and sister Jazette books do not have rules against using multiple brands and using their promotions. It is often encouraged through cross marketing and the sales departments which market each website as an independent sportsbook.

Player: I did everything above board and was having a good season of NFL picks and now they've stolen from me. I guess I should have known better since you had it listed as D- but they'd fixed their payout issues over the last few months and I had never had other problems with them over 5+ years of active use. However, I have no email to send you since they didn't even bother to email me.

Three weeks after the Sportsbook.com (SBR rating D+) Group has been notified of wager grading errors by SBR and players, wagers remain graded incorrectly. Sportsbook.com and sister books voided winning baseball bets when they received incorrect information regarding a change in starting pitchers. Players continuously complain that the sportsbook has not made the effort to look into the wagering dispute. BetUSA (SBR rating D+) appears to be the only exception. Ownership has manually credited players whose wagers were graded wrong by their service provider.

Sportsbook.com Group continues to struggle with processing
After nearly two months without a financial processing service, Sportsbook.com (SBR rating D+) was able to process some withdrawals, mostly by bank wire, at the end of March. Since then, SBR has received over 100 emails from additional slow-paid Sportsbook.com players. Management tells SBR that bank wires are no longer the optimal method due to volume restrictions from the processor, and that it plans to add a second wire provider within two weeks. While checks are currently the better option, the book is unable to reduce the amount of past-due withdrawals as word of the problems continue to spread prompting more cashout requests. SBR is told the Jazette Group plans to send all players an email on behalf of management tonight in an attempt to reassure its users.

Sportingbet Plc returns $24,000 confiscated from client in October 2005. Over the course of a year the player had used multiple Sportingbet Plc sites including PlayersOnly(SBR rating D+), LinesMaker(SBR rating D+), SportFanatik(SBR rating D+), SportingBetUSA(SBR rating D+), Aces(SBR rating D+) and Sportsbook.com(SBR rating D+). The amount confiscated was the sum of what the player had earned in bonuses and won overall from the family of sportsbooks. SBT management originally stated that the player was violating the spirit of the bonus although the company’s client support has maintained that utilizing multiple sportsbooks and incentive offers was acceptable. Other Sportingbet players hope to experience the same success in resolving their issue and recovering their funds. SBR is currently speaking with Sportingbet’s corporate office about these matters.